Monthly Archives: September 2011

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This is roughly the same view as yesterday’s, but three quarters of a century earlier. This turn-of-the-century image shows a wonderful collection of homes, almost all gone now, with Ladd School in the center and the downtown skyline beyond that.

Like this:

By the late 1970s, Portland had two of its modern skyscrapers, the Georgia-Pacific building (center) and First National Bank Tower (right). There would be many more in the coming years. More large buildings would also fill in many areas in the foreground, especially on the PSU campus.

A rare close-up aerial view of the Oregon Journal Building along Portland’s west side waterfront showing rooftop parking. This photo is from Bud Holland who remembers activities sponsored by the newspaper under the “Oregon Journal Juniors” or “OJJ” clubs. These included hobbies such as the “OJJ Stamp Club” and the “OJJ Camera Club,” which all had meetings in this building. Note the long-gone shipping terminal on the east bank between the old Morrison Bridge and the Burnside Bridge.

In April we saw photos of this area being filled for the extension of 4th Avenue south of Sheridan street. Here is that same street in roughly the same view four years later. Some of the same houses can be seen in the backgrounds of both photos.

This lively street scene looking north on Front towards Morrison Street features the Esmond Hotel, perhaps Portland’s grandest hotel of the time; Presidents Hayes and Grant both stayed there. It was demolished in 1908. This great image was send by VP fan Dave Kramer who acquired the mounted 29″x40″ print in Rejuvenation’s salvage/antiques section.

Interesting stereoscope photo of South Portland circa 1900. The main intersection in the lower left is 6th and Grant. The tiny sliver of the northwest corner of that intersection shows an old reservoir which can be seen on the Glover bird’s-eye illustration from last week. I believe the four houses facing the reservoir at the extreme lower left corner are still standing.

The Parkrose Bowl, a grocery shop, a bank, the Parkrose Theater and a hardware store across the street gave the intersection at NE Sandy and 100th Ave. a real neighborhood feel. I’m not sure anything in this photo survived to see the 21st century. This view looks east on Sandy.